By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — Amendments to Conneaut's zoning code, studied for years by local boards and panels, needs an expert's touch, Law Director Lori Lamer told City Council at Monday's work session.
“The city is over its head on this,” Lamer said. “It would be a huge mistake if we pursue it the way we've been pursuing it.”
Lamer said a meeting will be held soon with Albert Dispenza, Ashtabula County's planning director, to discuss the code. “The language in the code is incredibly outdated,” Lamer said, dating back to 1922.
A committee is being formed that would assist county communities with zoning issues, and could make Conneaut's code one of its first projects, Lamer said.
For years, the city — using groups such as the zoning board of appeals and Planning Commission — has methodically been preparing suggestions to improve the municipal zoning code. While acknowledging the hard work these citizens have performed on the zoning code, the task involves very “complex” issues, Lamer said.
“It's too important for the community to do a half-baked job,” she said. “It's absolutely overwhelming. It's too important not to do right.”
It was not immediately known what Lamer's suggest would have on a handful of zoning proposals put on the fast track in hopes of encouraging development. Slated for public hearings soon were plans to rezoning stretches of Route 20, Broad Street and Center Road to expedite business growth.
Also on the front burner was a hearing on plans to rezoning the former Conneaut Shores Golf Course on Lake and Whitney roads to allow multi-family dwellings. A hearing on the golf course proposal was initially to be held last month.
A broad update of the code, rather than “piecemeal” improvements, would be a better benefit, Lamer said. It's critical the zoning ordinance be consistent and “comply with current case law,” she said.
“We're not equipped to deal with it at this level,” Lamer said.
Lamer realized the magnitude of the task ahead when some the proposed revisions finally hit her desk for review, she said.
Ward 4 Councilman Tony Julio, who has prodded council on the zoning rewrite, said he understood Lamer's argument but worried a complete makeover would hurt the city's chance to attract developers.
“We've been waiting for a year without knowing why we were waiting,” he said.
The last major overhaul of the zoning code came in the mid-1980s.
In other business, council learned a proposed 2010 budget, expected to be unveiled at Monday's meeting, won't be delivered until Friday. City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr., said he and Finance Director John Williams are fine-tuning the document.
Williams said he expects 2009 city income tax collections to be about $350,000 less than the year before. The city's top employers are hurting and the result is fewer income tax dollars, he said.
“While I don't see any deterioration in the trend, I don't see any improvement, either,” Williams said.
Conneaut's largest employer, whom Williams did not identify, citing confidentiality laws, withheld $50,000 less from its workers this year to satisfy their city income tax obligations, he said. The city's other big employers posted withholdings ranging from one third to one half less compared to 2008, Williams said.
On the plus side, billing for the city's emergency medical service has jumped 58 increase between June and October, the period served by new ambulance rates, Williams said.
